• Nobel Prize winners in European Parliament
• HGV blind-spot mirrors – 1st reading
• Deregulating package sizes - 2nd reading
• Public transport (awarding of contracts) – 2nd reading
  

 

Nobel Prize winners go to Brussels

Four Northern Ireland Nobel Peace Prize winners and a British biochemist are among the 13 Nobel Prize winners who will be at the European Parliament on 9 May to mark the EU’s 50th anniversary. The ceremony will start at 2pm (UK time), immediately before the session of the Parliament proper.

1998 winners John Hume and David Trimble will be present, as will Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 and co-founded the Community of the Peace People. Also present will be Professor Tim Hunt, who jointly won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2001. Among the other winners attending is Lech Walesa from Poland.

The event will be broadcast live on Europarl --for a link to EP Live please click here.

 

HGV blind-spot mirrors

Every year, 400 Europeans - many of them children on bikes - are killed when lorry drivers fail to see them in a blind spot around the vehicle. Under a 2003 EU directive, new lorries must be equipped with blind-spot mirrors from 2007 on. The proposed directive receiving its 1st reading this week (debate Weds, vote, Thurs) brings in compulsory fitting of such mirrors on lorries registered after 1 January 2000.

The main dispute between Parliament and the Council of Ministers centres around the date the new rules would enter into force. MEPs are proposing 30 June 2008; the Council suggests two years later.

A package of compromise amendments is likely to be tabled following informal discussions between Parliament and Council. If the two institutions do not agree on a text for the directive, it will return for a 2nd reading at a later stage.

 

Deregulating package sizes – 2nd reading

Deregulation is the name of the game as the European Parliament has its 2nd reading of a proposal on package sizes for pre-packed products. If the legislation is passed, many everyday consumer goods could be sold in a wider range of sizes than at present.

At the European Parliament’s 1st reading, it was proposed that milk, butter, ground and unground coffee, dried pasta, rice and brown sugar should be excluded from the new rules. The sizes these basic goods could be sold in would still be restricted, but imperial measures for milk were specifically allowed.

The Council of Ministers’ position set out a transitional period over which such restrictions on packaging would be phased out, and the total deregulation would therefore take effect. The Commission's newest proposals provide for deregulation within 18 months of adoption, with a 5-year transition for milk, butter, dried pasta and coffee, and 6 years for white sugar.

At the committee stage (2nd reading), MEPs voted to accept most of the Council’s suggestions, but three amendments maintained national packaging sizes for pre-packed bread, one of them referring specifically to the ‘standard British loaf’.

This being the 2nd reading, any amendment to the Council’s position must receive support from 393 MEPs. If the Council does not accept all amendments adopted by the European Parliament, the proposal will pass to conciliation between Parliament and Council, with a view to agreeing the final text.

In the 1st reading debate (1 February 2006), the following UK MEPs spoke: John Purvis MEP (Cons, Scotland); Malcolm Harbour MEP (Cons, West Midlands); David Martin MEP (Lab, Scotland).

 

Public transport – awarding of contracts – 2nd reading

MEPs will have their 2nd reading of a proposed new Regulation on public passenger transport services which seeks to clarify the notion of public service obligation and renews the rules governing competitive tendering procedures in the passenger transport sector. The Regulation covers specifically the road and rail sectors.

Much of the debate has centred around issues of public/private sector contracts; the role of local authorities in overseeing transport provision in their areas; and the length of contracts for which firms would be invited to tender.

In the European Parliament’s 1st reading debate, on 13 November 2001, the following UK MEPs spoke: Philip Bradbourn MEP (Cons, West Midlands); Baroness Ludford MEP (Lib Dem, London); Mary Honeyball MEP (Lab, London); and Eluned Morgan MEP (Lab, Wales).

It took the Council of Ministers another five years to reach agreement on their Common Position. Now that the proposal returns for a 2nd reading, 393 MEPs must support any changes to the Council’s position and the Council must accept any 2nd reading amendments adopted this week if we are to avoid the conciliation procedure between Parliament and Council. If the Regulation is adopted after 2nd reading, it is likely to come into effect progressively from late 2008.

 

UK MEPs

 

Vehicle type-approvals

West Midlands Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour will lead Wednesday evening’s debate on manufacturing standards of road vehicles. This proposal reviews the existing rules for vehicle type-approval, by raising environmental and safety standards and making it easier for producers to sell their vehicles Europe-wide.

Cars have been covered by a single European type-approval regime for some years, but this new legislation will extend it to buses, coaches, trailers and trucks. In particular, buses and coaches will have to provide easy access to people with reduced mobility.

After the committee stage vote, Malcolm Harbour said: ‘This is a fantastic result for the disabled consumer and for the manufacturers of these vehicles. We have given a boost to this important industry while ensuring that the safety is in no way compromised’.

This being the 2nd reading in the codecision procedure, any amendments to the Council’s position require the support of 393 MEPs (ie 50% +1). Informal negotiations between the rapporteur, the Council and the Commission suggest, however, that these rules will be agreed after 2nd reading, thus gradually coming into effect between 18 and 84 months after adoption, depending on vehicle category, and whether the vehicle is existing or new.

 

1968 crash of US bomber in Greenland

Yorkshire & Humber Lib Dem MEP Diana Wallis will lead Wednesday evening’s debate on the US B-52 bomber which crashed in Greenland in 1968, releasing several kilos of plutonium both at the crash site and over a more extensive area. A Mr Jeffrey Carswell, who was involved in arranging for the removal of contaminated debris, was later diagnosed with oesophagus and stomach cancer. He has petitioned the European Parliament asserting that Denmark did not meet its obligations under the Euratom Treaty. Wednesday’s debate, and the resolution to be adopted on Thursday, will set out the European Parliament’s view on what should happen next.

 

Information and consultation of workers

MEPs will be voting on a resolution put forward by North East Labour MEP Stephen Hughes on information and consultation of workers where companies carry out major restructuring. The various existing European rules on collective redundancies, works councils and information/consultation have differing definitions of how workers should be consulted so the resolution due to be put to the vote on Thursday calls for a review of the whole regime of directives in the field.

 

Other issues

• Excise duty on alcohol: The levels of duty on alcoholic drinks are due for discussion on Wednesday. Since 1992, there have been minimum levels for excise duties on beers, spirits and many other alcoholic drinks with a view to reducing market distortions across the Member States. The European Commission is proposing abandoning minimum levels, but a majority in the Economics Committee voted instead for a code of conduct to encourage Member States with duties above or below the average to amend them. The vote in committee was close, however, so a lively debate is likely. The European Parliament is only consulted on this proposal, and the final decision lies with the Council of Ministers;
  
• Nuclear energy: The EU’s atomic energy treaty Euratom is 50 years old this year. MEPs will be reviewing the effectiveness of Euratom in supervising the use of nuclear energy in the EU, as well as debating the extent to which nuclear energy has a role to play in achieving a low-carbon energy mix;
  
• Reforms in Arab world: The European Union’s strategy for addressing reform in the Arab world is the subject of debate on Wednesday afternoon. Discussion will focus both on the potential direction of any reform process and the need to recognise the differing cultures among the Arab peoples;
  
• Russia: Energy issues and recent developments in Estonia are likely to feature in Wednesday’s debate on EU-Russia relations. The debate, and resolution due for adoption on Thursday, is designed to feed MEPs’ views in to the EU-Russia summit, set to take place on 18 May;
  
• Conflict in Africa: States in the Horn of Africa are the main focus of a report due for debate on Wednesday. The issue is how or whether the EU should be involved in helping African states to manage and resolve African conflicts;
  
• Housing: MEPs will be discussing a resolution on the extent to which EU funding can be used to improve social housing over the funding period 2007-2013.

 

Full information can be found in "The Briefing" at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/tous_les_briefing/default/default_en.htm